Rins: Yamaha MotoGP bike “very different” to the Suzuki

Rins moved to LCR Honda in 2023 after Suzuki, with whom he raced from his debut season in 2017, elected to quit MotoGP at the end of last year.

Despite winning Honda’s only grand prix in 2023 in Austin, Rins felt undervalued by the Japanese marque and decided to break a two-year deal to join Yamaha for 2024.

Following a second surgery on the leg he badly broke at the Italian GP, Rins returned to race action at the Valencia Grand Prix last weekend and was able to ride in Tuesday’s test on the Yamaha.

Rins completed 54 laps on the M1 and was 19th, 1.3 seconds off the pace.

His transition to Yamaha was always thought to be one Rins could make easily due to both the M1 and the Suzuki he previously raced being built around inline four-cylinder engines, and therefore had similar handling characteristics.

“It’s a very different bike compared to the Suzuki,” Rins noted.

“I can enter into the corner with more front brake and this is good because we can gain a little bit on the lap time.”

Photo by: Yamaha

Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Expanding on how his first test with Yamaha went, he added: “It was super good. I felt quite comfortable with the bike.

“We split the day in two ways. In the morning they gave me Fabio’s set-up from the race and it was just laps, laps, laps on the bike to find the position with the handlebars, the footrest and everything.

“And then in the afternoon we focused a lot on making laps, testing the new fairing.

“Yamaha brought two fairings, and as far as I know the bike one of the two fairings works better than the standard one. So, yeah, I was quite happy overall with the test.”

Rins noted that the M1 was “quite smooth, more than I was expecting”, while he believes the biggest difference now between the inline four bikes and V4 ones is down to the aerodynamics of the machines.

“Yeah, I mean I think right now the difference between a V4 engine or a four inline, I think this is not the biggest difference on the bike,” he said.

“Right now, the biggest difference is the aero side. The aero makes you turn better, because with my experience with other bikes – or for example with the Yamaha [in the test] – this morning I was riding with the standard fairing and with the wind conditions I had a lot of wheelies and going into the corner the bike was turning good.

“But I was just complaining about the wheely. And when we went to the other fairing, I felt less wheely and more turning. So, I think the difference between an engine is the gears.”